The Trials
'The trials are designed to mark stages of the training and progress toward evolving into a Sith Lord. Acolytes will be asked to select and complete one of the first three trials prior to apprenticeship. Masters will select an additional two trials for their apprentices to complete prior to lordship including at least one of the last two for a total of three. In some cases, apprentices will elect to undertake all five trials and challenge for the lordship before their master recommends them for the status. '''Trial of Conflict (Passion) "Conflict forces one to better oneself. It forces change, growth, adaptation, evolution...or death." -Yuthura Ban The Trial of Conflict instills fear of irrelevance in the apprentice. A sense of competition and envy of one's fellow apprentices. Tasked with pursuing an artifact of ancient power and knowledge, the apprentice is dispatched alongside a fellow apprentice to retrieve the holocron from a remote world. While the Sith work together at first, suspicion and fear shatters the cooperation and the drive to succeed and become more powerful than the other. Upon coming across the relic, it is here how the apprentice decides to proceed that will be judged by their Master. Only one can return with the artifact. Your actions will be weighed carefully with how you decide to solve the conflict. Peace is a lie. Trial of Predation (Strength) "It's our goal to be stronger, to achieve our potential and not rest upon our laurels. We are the seekers, not the shepherds." -Yuthura Ban The Trial of Predation encompasses the second line of the Sith Code and will push the apprentice beyond their limits. They are left stranded on a strange world with only the Force as their weapon and their intellect. The harsher the environs the better. Hardship builds character after all. While on this world the apprentice will become prey to the ecosystem, the climate, and even the Force itself. The apprentice must use their passion to grant them the strength they need to survive and slay the beast their master tasked them with destroying. Returning without evidence of the kill is folly. You would do better to die out in the wilderness. Failure is evident that you were weak and not worthy to be Sith. Trial of Secrets (Power) "What fuels your power with the Force but your passion? The stronger, darker emotions. Anger, hatred, fear...these passions empower us." ''-Yuthura Ban Knowledge is power. Knowledge should be craved, sought, and seized, including knowledge that tempt the enlightened to murderous and horrible acts. The Trial of Power demonstrates the apprentice's guile and observes their approach on interrogation. Passive or forced. Coercive or torturous. The trial is a test for the lengths as to which the apprentice will go to gain knowledge. Knowledge for themselves or knowledge that can prevent the destruction of the Empire. A secret that can turn the tide of a war. Carry out the imperative. Those that don't have the stomach or the intellect to draw out the right morsel of information will fail this trial. '''Trial of Ascendancy (Victory)' "Unless the victory is achieved by demonstrating that your power is superior, it's only an illusion. Temporary at best. We seek more." ''-Yuthura Ban The apprentice nears the top of the abyss to complete their training. All of their skill, training, and raw emotion and instincts will be needed to triumph and reign supreme over their foe. Their Master has tasked with them with traveling to a world touched only by light. They will find a lone hermit of a Jedi. One that is a devout follower of their heretical dogma to the word in that he went into hiding to avoid the war. He has lived in isolation for thirty years, training those that dare to make the pilgrimage to him to seek his wisdom. Your own pilgrimage is a dark one and will end in either his death or your own. '''Trial of Awakening (Freedom)' ''"The Force is our servant and our master. Our teacher and our companion. A weapon and a tool. Know it and you know the universe. Master it and you master the universe. Strive for perfection and the Force shall reward you." ''- Yuthura Ban The Force shall set us free. The Force is a powerful tool that can keep us from the edge of death and sustain life itself. The apprentice must quickly adapt to a lethal threat that only their connection and prowess in the Force can save them from death. They will appear to have died, but the fight will be fought in their mind. Their will and hunger for survival will enable them to gather their last reserves of strength to purge the toxin from their bodies with the aid of the Force. As the Sith'ari is fated to destroy the Sith so too will the apprentices willingly destroy themselves and be reborn anew shaping themselves in their own image. :